Method of weaving



March 10, 1931. A, G FROMUTH l 1,795,770

METHOD OF WEAVING -Filed Jan. 7, 1950 BY Mawm VM /JIAL ATTORNEYS `latented Mar. 10, 1931" UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFlcE y AUGUST G. FROMU'III, on PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoIt 'ro ALvA oAR- PET a RUG COMPANY, A coRPoRA'rIoN on PENNSYLVANIA METHOD OF WEAVING Application iled January 7, 1930. Serial No. 419,202.

This invention relates to a method of weaving, and has particular reference to the weaving of velvet and tapestry rugs and carets. f p In velvet or tapestry rugs or carpets, as made according to prior practice,` each of the pile-forming warp threads extends throughout the length of the rug or strip of carpet fabric and is of considerably greater length than the length of the finished rug or strip ofcarpet fabric in order to allow for the pile which is formed by looping up the threads during .the weaving process. The length of each longitudinal thread, with respect to the finishedrug orstrip of carpet fabric, depends therefore upon the height of the pile; and the initial length of each thread may be from two to ten times the length of the finished rug or the strip of carpet fabric, withthe result, for example, that if a rug twentyfeet in length is desired each of the ile-forming Warp threads would have to be forty to two hundred feet in length.

In coloring the pile-forming warp threads, it has been customary to employ a printing drum having a circumference equal to the length of each individual thread'. It will be appreciated, therefore',that in the manufacture, for example, of rugs of considerable size asmeasuring say twenty feet in length and invwhich the pile is such as to require warp threads from two to ten times the length of the finished rug, printing vdrums of very large diameters have been required.

Attempts have heretofore been made, without success from either an economical or a practical standpoint, to ,overcome the many difficulties and objections tothe use of printing drums of such great dimensions; and the practical limits on the size of thev printing drum have limited not only the dimensions of the rugs or strips of fabric to be woven but also the permissible height of the pile.

An object of this invention is to provide 1 an improved method of weaving by which can be woven a rug or strip of carpet fabric at least twice as long or with a pile at least twice as high, as was possible heretofore with a given size of printing drum ;l or, conversely7 to provide a method by which a rug or strip of fabric can be woven of a given size or with a given height-of pile with the use of a printing drum not more than half as large as was` heretofore required.r

A further object of the inventionr is to lpro'- vide a method of weaving which is satisfactory from an economical as well as from a practical standpoint, and which may be carried out .by the use of the conventional types of weaving machines now employed in they manufacture carpets.

The drawing shows a rug made 1n accordyof velvet or tapestry rugs or ance with this invention, the transverse me-' dial line indicating the meeting edges of the pattern of 'each half length of the rug, and the horizontal lines indicating threads'numbers 1 and 400 and 400 and 1, respectively, at opposite sides of said medial line.

An example will now be particularly de-y of thread are wound from twelve spools,

there being printing-drum turns supplied from each spool. After winding the threads upon the pattern-printing'drum, the printing process is'carried lout by the aidv of an indexing chart or scalev to produce parti-y colored threads in correspondence tov the design to -be produced when these threads are y,

woven into the fabric. The parti-coloringy of the threads is the same on each of the several turns around theV printing drum. A blank space or section is left onl each turn intermediate the beginning and end of the v 'A parti-colored portion thereof, the blank section and preferably along the center line thereof are printed a series of aligned index markings, one for each turn, to *facilitatey pattern registration inthe usual setting tions being in alignment. In this blank secloo frame, as will hereinafter more clearly appear, and for the purpose of insuring true matching of the pattern in the weaving process. f

The printing process is carried out 100 times to produce warp threads, numbers-1 to 4.00, of which there are four eachto a rug, as will hereinafter more clearly appear. 1f desired, as many printing drums may be emb, ployed as are deemed necessary or expedientv as, for example, if ten printing drums are available, forty printing operations may be assigned to each printing drum; printing` drum No. 1 being used for the printing operations to produce warp threads 1 to 40, printing drum No. 2 being used for the printing of warp threads l1 to 80, and so on.

After each printing operation the threads are removed from the drum in twelve hanlis,

it being borne in mind that the thread from each of the .twelve spools from which the thread was wound upon the printing drum, constitutes one hanlr. The hanls aft-er each printing operation are numbered, by tagging or otherwise, according to the number of that operation and are then subjected to the usual process for making fast the colors, whereupon they are washed and dried. After the drying step, the hanlrs are wound upon Gil group is begun at one end of the threads,

Whereas the winding of the thread for the remaining six spools of each such group is carried out from the opposite end of the respective threads, that is to say, the winding of six threads of a given number or identification 1s started from one end of each of suchV threadsand the winding of the remaining six threads of a corresponding identification is started from the opposite end of each thread.

`After spoolingv the printed threads, as liereinbefore described, spools 1 to 400 and 400v to l, all wound correspondingly, are placed in the usual setting frame and are wound upon a beam side by side in theforder of 1 to 400 and 400 to 1. This beam may be made in two parts, one receiving threads 1 to 400 and the other receiving threads Li() to 1. Registration of pattern at the start of the beam-winding operation is insured by aligning the index markings on the respective threads and as the beam-winding operation continues the successive index markings are aligned, the aligning being done by the oper- M ator in a manner substantially the same as the customary pattern 4matching of the pilewarp threads is carried out, but with greater speed, ease and accuracy. Upon a second beam (which may likewise consist of two parts) are wound threads l to 400 and 4:00 to 1 in a manner similar to that described in connection with-the first beam-Winding operation. However', for the second beamwinding operation, spools are selected upon which the threads are reversely wound so that the threadswhen `wound upon such second beam will be reversely placed to those of the first beam.

The two beams, on one of which the threads are wound reversely with respect to the threads of the other, are placed in a loom.

The weaving operation is carriedout first with respect to one of the complete pattern lengths (i. e. the length of a vprinted Vpilewarp thread between the blank and indexed portions thereof) of which there are fiftythree for each pile-warp thread, the weaving operation beginning, of course, at the border ends of the threads-and ending at the opposite ends of' the pattern lengths of the threadsthe pattern ends-leaving the adjacent blank sections undisturbed. During this first weaving Voperation the heddle controlling the pile-warp threads of the second beam remains out of operation and the ends of such threads are anchored to a stationary part of the loom frame by a suitable clamp. Upon completion of the first weaving operation, the heddle controlling the pile-warp threads of the first beam is lifted to inactive position and the heddle controlling the pile-warp threads of the second beam is lowered to active position, whereupon the threads from the second beam are led into the fabric. The clamp is then removed from the threads of the second beam and applied to the threads of the first beam,

after which the threads of the first beam` are severed at a point intermediate the clamp and the fabric, so that they may be anchored while inactive or out of operation to a stationary part of the loom framc/ Writh the threads of the first beam out of operative position, the weaving is carried onV with the pile-warp threads from the second beam, it' being remembered that these threads on the second beam are reversely arranged to those on the iirst beam. This -weavingoperation continues throughout one of thei'full pattern lengths of the pile-warp threads, ofV

kas

plete a given rug made up of two component parts as to its pile-warp threads which are joined together in the weaving process along their pattern-meeting edges. Each beam has supplied pile-warp threads for half of the pattern and two beams have thus successiveA ly supplied pile-warp threads for one complete pattern or one complete length of the rug. Obviously the strength of the structure of therug is supplied by thel other threads which are woven into' the fabric, so that the fact that the pattern-forming pile-warp threads are wovenv into the fabric in two separate lengths notunited to each other is in no respect objectionable.

Upon completion of the rug, the heddle controlling' the threads of the second beam is lifted to inactive position and the heddle controlling the threads ofthe first beam is lowered to active position, whereupon the threads from the first beam are led into the fabric. The clamp is removed from such threads and applied to the threads of the second beam, whereupon the latter threads are cut intermediate the clamp and the fabric and anchored to a stationary part of the loom frame. The successive operations above described are then carried on-from which successive operations fifty-two additional rugs are produced, making iifty-three from one Vset-up of the loom.

From the remaining spools of threads, two groups of fifty-three rugs each may be produced for each set-up ofthe weaving machine by following the same procedure as above described in'connection with the production of the first group of fifty-three rugs.

Although the method embodying'this in-` vention has been in detail described with respect to a particular example, it .will be understood that the invention is not to be limited because of the fact that it has been so described.

lVhat is claimed is: f

l. A method of weavinga patterned pile fabric wherein the pattern is formed by particolored pile-warp threads, which consists in printing pattern-forming pile-warp threads so that they shall be parti-colored according to the pattern desired for a given lengtho vthe fabric, weaving a group of such threads into the fabric with the threadsarranged in one direction and thereafter weaving another group of such threads into the fabric with the threads arranged in the reverse direction. l

2. A method of weaving patterned pile fabrics wherein the pattern is formed by parti-colored pile-warp-threads, which consists in printing a series of pattern lengths in a spaced relation on pattern-forming pilewarp threads, each such thread adjacent each end of each Vpattern length thereof, registering the threads according to their index markings printing an index marking onand weaving the successive'pattern lengths of suchthreads into successive fabrics-.f

3. A .method V'ofweaving patterned pile n fabrics wherein the :pattern is formed by i parti-colored pile-warp threads, which consists in printing a series of pattern lengthsv in a spaced relation on pattern-forming pilewarp'threads so that they shall be parti-v colored according to the pattern desired-for y a given length of the fabric, printing an index marking on each'suchthread adjacent the weaving of one group of such threads being carried out with the threads arranged in one direction and the weaving of the other group of such threads being carried' out with the threads arranged in the reverse direction.

4. A method of weaving patterned pile fabrics wherein the .pattern is formed by parti-colored pile-warp threads and wherein the pattern for half the .length of the fabric is a duplicate of that of the other half length of the fabric but reverse thereto, which consists in drum-printing a plurality of turns of each pattern-forming pile-warp threadv so that it shall be parti-colored ,according to the pattern desired for one-half of the length ofthe pattern inthe fabric, arranging the printed threads in two groups, one group to be used in weaving half the length of a plurality of successive fabrics and the other Y f the pattern for halfthe length of the fabric Ais a duplicate of .that of the other half length ofthe yfabric butreverse thereto, which consists in drum-printing a plurality of turns of each patternforming pile-warp thread so that it shall be parti-colored according to the pattern desired for half of the Vlength of the pattern in the fabric and so that itspattern lengths are spaced from each other, printing an index marking on each such thread adjacent each end of each pattern length thereof, f,

arranging the printed threads in two grou s, one group to. be used in weaving half t e length of a plurality of successive fabrics,

andthe other group to be used in weaving the other half length of such successive fabries, registering the threads of each group ac-Y cording to `their index markings, and alternately Weaving the pattern lengths of such threads,:the Weaving of one group of such threads being Carried out With the threads arranged in one Vdirection and the Weaving of the other group of such threads being earried out with the threads arranged in the reverse direction.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature to this speeication.

AUGUST G. FROMUTH. 

